By Marco Rubio
Tuesday, January 05, 2016
Last week, the White House hailed Iran for shipping most
of its low-enriched uranium stockpile to Russia. Secretary of State John Kerry
called it “one of the most significant steps Iran has taken” under the nuclear
deal signed this past summer. But the real news happened several days earlier:
Even as the administration heaped praise on the mullahs in Tehran, Iranian
Revolutionary Guard ships fired unguided rockets near a U.S. aircraft carrier
in the Strait of Hormuz.
This provocation is just the latest in a series of
dangerous acts committed by Iran that belie President Obama’s rosy promises of
putting pressure on Iran for its aggressive actions. As the so-called
“Implementation Day” of Obama’s flawed agreement approaches — and the president
prepares to give the world’s foremost state sponsor of terrorism tens of
billions of dollars in sanctions relief — it’s important to take stock of
Iran’s behavior so far.
Among other things, the deal has greatly harmed relations
between the United States and its traditional allies in the Middle East, Israel
first and foremost. It has also emboldened Iran, which will receive important
financial assistance to fund its regional aggression in places like Yemen,
Bahrain, Lebanon, and Syria. In recent days, Iran even allowed the Saudi
embassy in Tehran to be ransacked, leading Saudi Arabia to rightfully sever
diplomatic relations with Iran.
This damage, extensive as it already is, is growing worse
by the day. Since the deal was signed this summer, Iran has made its intentions
clear. The head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, Qassem Suleimani, visited
Russia — despite a U.N. travel ban restricting his movements — to coordinate a
joint Iranian-Russian intervention in Syria. Iran sentenced Washington Post correspondent Jason
Rezaian to prison for espionage, even as it has arrested a growing number of
Americans. And it has engaged in a brutal human-rights crackdown, arresting
hundreds, including businesspeople and journalists.
Meanwhile, Iran has already stretched the terms of
Obama’s deal. Iran is now trying to claim that a U.S. law aimed at protecting
Americans from terrorists trying to come to the United States is an American
violation of the agreement. This is a blatant attempt to pressure the Obama
administration not to seek or enforce any new sanctions whatsoever, even those
targeting human-rights abuses and support for terrorism, which are allowed
under the deal. It has twice tested ballistic missiles — violating a U.N.
Security Council resolution. On December 31 the supposed moderate Iranian
president Hassan Rouhani even stated that Iran would be expanding its ballistic missile program. This comes just weeks
after the Obama administration joined with its diplomatic partners to sweep
Iran’s past illicit nuclear-weapons activities under the rug.
The administration’s reversal of position on this key
issue set a terrible precedent for the nuclear agreement. The United States has
willingly conceded the crucial baseline it needs to guard against any future
move toward Iranian weaponization. America’s enemies will also take heart: They
now have a model for obfuscating their illicit activities with no
repercussions.
President Obama’s rollover on Iran’s past attempts to
create a nuclear weapon is part of a disturbing pattern. The White House is
reportedly delaying planned sanctions against Iran’s ballistic-missile program;
has done nothing to punish Suleimani’s illegal travel to Russia; failed to
secure the release of imprisoned Americans; and remained quiet about Iran’s
flagrant human-rights violations and its aggressive actions in the region. The
deal hasn’t even been implemented yet, and it’s gone from relieving
nuclear-weapons-related sanctions, to becoming a get-out-of-jail-free card for
whatever violations of international norms and laws Tehran cares to undertake.
The Obama administration and its supporters argue that
while Iran’s actions are troubling, they technically fall outside the scope of
the nuclear agreement. Since preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons is
the goal, they argue, the United States must separate out these issues and keep
the deal moving forward. But that’s exactly why this deal is so fundamentally
flawed.
The reason why an Iranian bomb is so threatening is
Iran’s dangerous behavior in the Middle East and abroad. The more emboldened it
feels to test its limits in these areas, the more emboldened it will be to
cheat on the nuclear front again in the future — and the more our adversaries
will believe that we don’t have the resolve to enforce our word.
That is why as president I will scrap this fundamentally
flawed deal. Instead, I will reimpose the sanctions that President Obama waives
and will impose crushing new measures targeting all of Iran’s illicit behavior.
Rather than cutting deals with a regime with American blood on its hands, I
will pressure Iran on all fronts across the Middle East. I will increase
support to our allies in the region that are on the frontline of Iran’s
nefarious activities.
The mullahs will no longer have an American president to
push around.
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